Hydraulic weighing-scale.



' E. J. WALTERS & W. P. SYMONS. HYDRAULIC WEIGHING SCALE.

APPLIGATION FILED AUG.15 1913.

1,098., 1 97. f Patented May 26, 1914.

4'UNrrun 'STATES PTENT onirica.

HYDRAULIC:r WEIGHING-SCALE.

c Specication of Letters Patent. VApplication led August 15, 1,918. Serial No. 784,873.

Patented May 26, 1914.

To all whom 'it may concern.'

Beit known that we, EDWARD J, WALTERS, a subject of the King of England and WIL- LIAM P. SYMoNs, a citizen of the United States, 'and residents, respectively, of Groveland, in the county of Tuolumne and State -of California, ,and Arlington, in the county of Riverside and State of California, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Hydraulic Weighing-Scales, of which the following is a'specification. v,

Our invention relates 4to hydraulic weighing scales, and more particularly to such scales as used lfor'weighing heavy articles in motion, such for instanceas the cars of a railway train, the purpose of our invention being to increase the general efficiency 4of such hydraulic weighing scale.

thecar wheels at 5. A strip 6 of metal is carried upon the underside of the car and serves as a contact member, as hereinafter described. Track rails are shown at 7b and are stationary. At 7 are short rails carried by girders or cross ties 8, these rails and the girders supporting them being free to move up and down within reasonable limits.I

A contact brush is shown at 9 land engaging it is a spiral s ring 9. The brush 9 1s pivotally mounte nected with the brush 9 is an insulated wire 9 which leads to a binding post 9d, the latter being mounted upon the base plate 9b..

A su porting block 10 carries the base plate 9"., w 1ch is separated therefrom by a strip 11 of insulating material. Connected with the girders 8 are piston rods 12 and secured to the latter are pistons 13 which are slidably located in cylinders 14. A pump is shown at 15, and pi es 16 provided with check valves 17 lead rom this pump to the cylinders 14. Connected with these cylinders are pipes 18, the latter being also conover a base plate 9". Con-y nected to a pipe 19 which leads to a valve casing 20. Slidably mounted within this valve casing is a plunger 21, which is provided' with a cross passage 22. Connectedl 'with the plunger 21 is a plunger rod 23 made of soft iron, and thus serving as an armature.

A solenoid is shown at 24 and the adjacent end of the plunger- 23, servin as an armature as .'just statedis adapte to be drawn into this solenoid. A .spring 25 is employed for the purpose of retracti'ng the plunger rod 23 into its normal position-.- that forcing it to the right according to Fig. 1.

Mounted upon the valve casing 20 is a discharge nipple 27. Communicating with the valve casing 20 is a ipe 28, thls pipe being connected with anot er pipe 29 which communicates with the valve casing 20- and is also connected to a pressure cylinder 30. Slidably mounted within this cylinder is a piston 31, and en aging this 'piston is a spring 32 which a so engages the adjacent end of the-pressure cylinder 30. A sliding rod 33 is secured rigidly to the piston 31 and controllable by motions of the same. This slidin rod 33 is pivotally connected 'to one end o a lever 34` the opposite end of this lever being pivotally connected to a link 35. This link is pivotally connected to a stationary lug 36.

A marker 37 or indicating arm is mounted upon the lever 34, and adjacent to this marker is an indicating chart 38. This charthas, in this instance, the form of a traveling band of paper or thelike, which is provided with parallel lines 39 and is partially Wound upon'spools 40, the latter being adapted to be rotated. The arrangement of the parts is such that when the marker 37 is gmoved in a direction lateral to the path of travel of the chart 38, a graphic line 41 made by the marker upon the chart serves as a record of the degree of movement of the marker 37. f

A battery is shown at 41a. A wire 42 leads from this battery to a resistance 43 which. may be an incandescent lamp. From this resistance a Wire 44 leads to the solenoid 24. Fromvthe latter a wire 46 leads car wheels 5 by a wire 49. A quantity of water 48 partially fills the cylinder 14, and the various pipes connected therewith.

When a car is in the position indicated in Fig. l so that the contact strip 6, carried by the car, engages the contact brush 9 a metallic path is formed from the contact brush 9-to the rail 7a, as indicated in Fig. 2.

The parts are so proportioned andarranged that when a car rests upon the rails 7a, the two bodies of water 48 in the cylinders 14 are placed under pressure, this pressure being communicated to the interior of the pipes 18 and 19. The-engagement of the contact strip @with the brush 9 completes an electric -circuit which may be traced as follows: battery 41, wire 42, re-

sistance 43, wire 44, solenoid 24, wire 46,

itact brush 9, contact strip 6, wire 48, car wheels 5, rails 7a and wire 47, back to battery 41a. rlhis circuit energizes the solenoid 24, and by causing it to-attract the plunger rod`43, serving as an armature, the valve plunger 21 is moved into its extreme position to the leftjaccording to Fig. 1. The cross passage 22 of the valve plunger is thus moved out of-registry with the adjacent ortion of the pipe 28, and the nipple 27, and is moved into registry with the pipes 19, and 29. The liquid is thus admitted under pressure into the pipe 29'and into the pressure cylinder 30 where it moves the piston 3l, and as.thisvmotion causes the swinging of the lever 34 and consequent movement of the marker 37, a graphic indication 41 is registered upon the chart 38, this indication representing the weight of the car.

As the car moves 0E the scale, the disengagement of the contact strip 6 from the brush 9 opens the circuit above traced, and as the solenoid 24 is no longer energized, the e'ect of the s ring 25 upon the rod 23 is to restore the vaqve plunger 21 to its normal position as indicated in Fig. 1. This places the passage 22 in communication with the pipe 28 and out of direct communication with the pipes 19 and 29. 'llhe water within the pressure cylinder 3() now retrogrades through the pipe 29 and passes through the pipe 29, passage 22 and nipple 27 to make its escape. 'lhe pump 15 is connected with any convenient water supply and is actuated from time to time for the purpose of restoring into the cylinders 14 such volumes of water as are lost by making their escape, as just described. ln practice, the pump l5 is merely operated as often as necessary to enable the rails 7 to be maintained at a'suitable level to receive the cars. The capacity of the pressure cylinder 30=being comparatively small, very little water is wasted, and the pump 15 need not therelfore be operated except at rare interva s.

noeste? The pressure of the water within the pressure cylinder 30 is controlled by Pascals law and is therefore proportionate to the area of the piston 31. rlhis piston being of small area, the hydraulic pressure against it may, in the aggregate, be very small, just suiiicient to work the indicating apparatus, and yet be strictly proportionate to the aggregate weight of the car.v

The operation of our device is as follows: The parts being arranged and assembled as described, the cars of a train are drawn successively and slowly over the rails 7a. As the weight ofeach car is recorded upon t-he chart 38, as above described, the operation of our device is, for the most part, automatic. The electric circuit through the solenoid 24 is not completed until the contact strip 6 is in engagement with the brush 9 and this occurs only during a moment while the car wheels 5 are moving upon the short movable rails 7a. The circuit is thus both opened and closed during a very brief interval. Any other suitable liquid, such as oil, may be employed instead of water.

We do not limit ourselves to the precise construction shown, as variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of our invention, the -Scope of which is commensurate with our claims.

We claim l. A weighing scale for movable cars comprising rails, supporting members therefor, pistons connected with said supporting members, cylinders encircling said pistons and containing a liquid upon which said pistons rest, piping connected with said cylinders, a valve communicating with said piping, an indicating apparatus including a pressure cylinder,- a hydraulic connection from said valve to said pressure cylinder, a rod movable in the general direction of its length for opening and closing said valve, said rod being of magnetic material, a solenoid for attracting said rod in order to move the latter in the general direction of its length, an electric circuit connected with said solenoid for energizing the same, said circuit being normally open, and means con` trollable by movements of the car for closing said electric circuit.

2. A weighing scale comprising mechanism controllable by weight of the article to be weighed for producing hydraulic pressure, hydraulically operated indicating mechanism, a valve connected with said hydraulically operated indicating mechanism and with said mechanism for subjecting said indicating mechanism to said hydraulic pressure and for relieving` said indicating mechanism from said-hydraulic pressure, an electrically operated member for controlling said valve, an electric circuit for energizing said electrically operated member, said electric circuit being normally open, and means trollable b the weight of the article to be controllable by movementv of the article to be weighed for closing said electric circuit. 3. In a weighing scale, the combination of hydraulic cylinders, pistons mounted therein, means for causing the weight of an article to rest u on said pistons in order to produce hydrau ic pressure upon a liquid therein, a hydraulic valve, connections from said cylinders to said valve, hydraulically operated indicating mechanism, connections therefrom to said valve magnetic mechanism connected with said valve for actuating the same, an electric circuit connected with said magnetic mechanism and normally open, and. meansY controllable by Weight of the article to be weighed for closing said electric circuit.

4. In a weighing scale, the combination ci an indicating device, a pressure cylinder provided with means for actuating said indicating device, a hydraulic valve, a pipe extending from said hydraulic valve to said pressure cylinder for the purpose of admitting a liquid under pressure into said pressure cylinder, mechanism connected. lwith said pipe and coacting` with said valve for discharging said liquid from said cylinder after said liquid has been once .used in said pressure cylinder, means controllable by movements of the body to be weighed for actuating said valve, and mechanism conweighed or exerting hydraulic pressure through said valve and said pressure cylinder and connections therefor.

valve, and means controllable by movements of the article to be weighed for rendering said electric circuit active or inactive.

6. In a weighing scale for movable cars, the combination of hydraulic weighing mechanism, a valve for throwing the same into and out of action, a solenoid connected with said valve for actuating the same, movable' rails connected with said hydraulic mechanism for actuating the latter, a con- -tact opened and closed by movements of a car over said movable rails, and an electric circuit including said contact and said solenoid.

EDWARD J. WALTERS. WILLIAM P. SYMONS. Witnesses to the signature of Edward J. Walters:

CHAs. WILSON, L. yW. ALLUM. Witnesses to the signature of William I. Symons:

A. E. MYERS, R. L. BASKERVILLE. 

